To further advance the development of the green economy and bring together global resources, the second edition of Green Future Innovation Challenge (GFIC) 2026 was officially launched in Beijing. The launch ceremony was held at Chaolin Songyuan Hotel, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area on 17 September. Following the ceremony, a six-month global outreach, call for submissions and evaluation process will take place. The Grand Finale and Awards Ceremony will be hosted in Beijing in the first half of 2027.

GFIC is a global climate technology challenge jointly presented by Temasek Foundation and Vertex China. It calls for innovative technical solutions worldwide for sustainable development. GFIC made its debut in China in 2025. It has attracted solutions that have completed lab-stage R&D, attained near-commercial technical readiness and have clear plans for on-site implementation in China. The Challenge last year attracted over 1,000 submissions from more than 70 countries and regions. The 2026 Challenge focuses on energy transition; industrial decarbonisation and pollution reduction; green agriculture; digital-green integration; and green biomanufacturing, accelerating the transition of commercially viable sustainable solutions from lab to large-scale deployment.

Key Information of GFIC 2026

Tackling climate change, improving resource efficiency and advancing industrial green transition are shared global challenges for sustainable development, which require collaborative efforts and joint research across diverse stakeholders. Against this backdrop, Temasek Foundation and Vertex China jointly organised GFIC 2026. The competition features five tracks: Energy Transition; Industrial Decarbonisation & Pollution Reduction; Green Agriculture; Digital-Green Integration; and Green Biomanufacturing, to crowdsource for sustainable innovative solutions globally.

Chee Hong Tat, Minister for National Development of Singapore, and Xia Linmao, Executive Vice Mayor of Beijing and Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing, delivered addresses at the launch ceremony. Minister Chee Hong Tat affirmed GFIC’s value as a platform connecting global green innovators, and expressed hope that the competition will deepen bilateral exchanges and cooperation between China and Singapore in sustainable development and climate technology. Executive Vice Mayor Xia Linmao extended a warm welcome to guests from home and abroad as well as global innovators. He remarked that GFIC serves not only as a showcase for green technologies, but also a vital enabler for Beijing to build an international innovation hub and advance low-carbon transition, wishing the competition every success.

Open to global participants, the competition follows a phased roadmap: Call for submissions → Shortlisting → Pre-Finale Mentorship → Grand Finale & Awards. The evaluation process includes a preliminary review and a panel of judges at the Grand Finale. Judges assess proposals comprehensively based on their feasibility, applicability and commercial viability to select winning solutions.

Eligibility: Global technical solutions closely aligned with the annual theme, with near-commercial technical maturity and clear plans for technology deployment and implementation in China. The preliminary panel reviews documents and shortlists finalists. The final judging panel conducts in-depth assessment, prioritising solution feasibility, applicability, commercial viability, as well as alignment with China’s real-world scenarios and implementation roadmaps.

Competition Tracks: Five tracks are established: Energy Transition, Industrial Decarbonisation & Pollution Reduction, Green Agriculture, Digital-Green Integration, and Green Biomanufacturing. Areas covered include clean energy and energy efficiency, industrial low-carbon transformation and pollution control, sustainable agriculture, synergy between digital technologies and green industries, and biotechnology-enabled green manufacturing.

Timeline: Application for submissions runs from September 2026 to February 2027. Project shortlisting will take place between February and March 2027. Pre-finale mentorship will be held from March to April 2027, with the Grand Finale and Awards Ceremony in April 2027. Entries must match their selected track, demonstrate near-commercial readiness and have concrete plans for technology rollout and validation in China.

Official Channel: All applications shall be submitted via the official website: https://www.gfic.cn, with all required documents completed by the stipulated deadlines.

Launch Ceremony

The launch ceremony featured keynote speeches, panel discussions and local practice sharing sessions, covering policy guidance, technology R&D, industrial application and capital support.

During the keynote session, Professor Zhang Qiang from the Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, shared pathways for green technology innovation under the dual carbon goals. From an academic perspective, he analysed innovation directions and provided professional references for project selection and development.

After the keynotes, two panel discussions were held around technology-enabled green development. The first panel, themed AI + Green Innovation: The Shared Mission of Policy, Innovation and Capital, exploring real-world use cases integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and green industries. Panellists discussed how policy support, technological iteration and capital investment can work in tandem, identifying opportunities and bottlenecks for digital and intelligent green innovation. The second panel addressed the challenge of translating research outputs into commercial products, titled From Lab to Market: Industrialisation Pathways and Investment Logic of Green Technologies. Participants examined pain points in commercialising green tech, exchanging insights on achievement transformation mechanisms, industrial infrastructure and investment criteria, offering actionable ideas for green innovators to scale up.

GFIC will continue to engage global innovators. Leveraging technological innovation, the Challenge aims to provide catalytic support for high-impact green startups, accelerate the industrialisation of green technologies, and contribute diverse practical solutions to global sustainable development.